LETTER: ‘City Government is Becoming Even More Dysfunctional…’

I am very glad the 12/3 city council meeting was taped as it was a clear demonstration of how dysfunctional our city gov’t has become and people should view it especially the public comment part of it.

Our City Government has clearly is now more dysfunctional than ever as Jack Block noted.

The most obvious manifestations of it at the 12/3 council meeting were:

Brian Bennett (our mayor) getting down and reading the letter of a resident whose main thrust apparently was to attack Jack Block which was completely out of order according to normal comment protocol at our council meetings (where residents are not allowed to vent personal attacks on members of the council).

Brian Bennett agreeing to read it was not only absurd it was a travesty.

Jerry Robison reading a letter from the same resident in the packet from the 11/26 meeting where public comment was not allowed was also a total travesty and violation of I don’t know how many protocols..

The letter he read falsely accused Jack Block of wanting to cut the city budget in half and eliminate the city manager position which he clearly did not and anyone can confirm that by watching the tape

Why was Jerrys law office even allowed to be part presenting this letter in a public venue when it contained obvious falsehoods and was clearly inflammatory?

I had sent two of the three letters in the packet pertaining to a request for transparency on the costs to the taxpayers of the annexation project and a request for the council to address the behavior of the deputy mayor in violation of Roberts Rules in ending the last meeting. Why were my letters not read and the one containing false accusations was? Or was this just Jerry’s way of getting back at Jack?

Also Jerry’s angry ranting at the resident who dared point out these inconsistencies to him was unbecoming of a sitting council member.

Finally I was flabbergasted to hear the very same folks from the UAC that were so adamant that annexation pass argue now they don’t want the library to remain in white center??

They now want to move it south into Burien proper?? This is really off the wall because it was used as a reason to annex so they could keep the library in white center.

Ironically just last month (after annexation failed) the UAC got their wish and the Library board agreed to build a new library in mid north highline with easy access to the residents of white center, which was exactly what they wanted in the first place, why did they go postal on this and completely reverse their position.

I feel like this last council meeting was more like a meeting at a lunatic asylum.

I just wanted to share this as my mind is still spinning from watching this insanity.

I sincerely suggest everyone who has not seen it review the first part of the meeting for yourself if you have not already (video can be viewed here).

hmmm, does Mr Poitras need to be shown on a map that the White Center Library is currently within the city boundaries of Burien ? Most NH residents would like to see the result of our 8+ years of Tax Dollars stay in the community, without the potential for it
to be turned over to the city of Seattle – ever !!!!

Ruthie.. Yes the current very small library is just inside the border of Burien and white center. If you want to get real about it the point is that one of the tenants of the pro-annexation philosophy was for no consolidation to occur and no library closing because that would deny white center residents easy access to a library..
The Library board has passed a resolution to build a larger NEW library near the the center of Area Y and near the schools AND leave the small one open. The UAC is now opposing it and want any new library to be built in Burien which does not have the space and does not fit into the allotment of population vs Libraries that King County uses so its a ridiculous argument if the goal is to make library access easier for White Center residents.
The erroneous notion that IF the residents of white center approved annexation by Seattle that Seattle would take the library out of the community is a disingenuous argument.